Mitsugirlys graduation getaway cruise

[mitsugirly]

I loved your pictures from Mullet and Coki! I have an Olympus Tough, too, and I have been really happy with it. On our last trip, though, most of my pictures came out a bit under exposed. :confused: It was easy enough to fix, but I usually don't have to do that. Besides, I'm afraid when I brighten them they will end up looking over exposed.

 

You and I really do have something in common - I think we both have a picture (or 2) of every fish and every piece of coral in the Caribbean! My DH doesn't get it at all. He keeps telling me I already have a picture of a fish like the one I just took a picture of. He doesn't understand that I have to get the exact right picture!

 

I can't wait to get to Maho beach on our next trip to St Maarten. I have been wanting to watch planes land for quite a while now. We may get there in Sept if we switch from the Disney Dream to the Disney Fantasy. Otherwise, we'll get there next year at the end of April on Independence OTS. I hope we get to see as many planes as you did when we go there. I do think I'll stay off your wall since I am already a member of the broken arm on vacation club, and I do NOT want to do it again!

 

We do sound a lot alike. After I took my husband on our first cruise and came back and purchased a second camera just like the first (at that time a Canon D10), he knew I meant business. I explained to him that I wasn't about to miss out on any shots just because he might have the camera at that time. This way, I have my camera and he can use the extra one if needed. If not, then it's a space for backup when a battery dies in the other. :D

 

I honestly have to say about Maho Beach and watching the planes. We enjoyed our time there and the pictures that I took from the area we were in. But for some reason, I think I got better pictures the last time I was there from the Sunset area. I don't know. It just seemed like maybe we were closer? Or maybe we were more in the path? There was just a different atmosphere about being on the other side. You be the judge at let me know what you think.

 

Walls with opening/holes every so often is not your friend. Beware. :D ;) It wasn't the wall that got me, it was the opening in the wall. Yikes.

[fpebbles]

Enjoying your review! Thanks for all the pictures and details.

 

I often find I enjoy a vacation more in the planning and the remembering--especially when multiple family members are involved!:)

[karoo]

Now one thing that I absolutely LOVE at O'Sheehans is their cheesecake. On previous cruises, I will stop nightly just to get a cheesecake to take back to the room for a midnight snack. THE MENU HAS CHANGED....everywhere. There was no longer a regular cheesecake. They now have a brownie cheesecake. Sigh again. (I would later find that other venues had different variations of cheesecakes too, but no regular cheesecake).

 

Loving your review, but only part way through. Devastated at this news. Most nights for dinner at the MDR I have the signature cheesecake - now gone and I too often stop at O sheehans to get cheesecake. I don't like chocolate flavoured desserts or anything with a cake texture so a chocolate brownie cheesecake sounds yuk!

[shelly11]

Love all the fish pictures! I have never been on the stops you are making and must plan on them!

[lostone65]

Anyway, did you notice anyone renting snorkel equipment at Coki? We too plan to go to Coki but I don't want to have to bring snorkel equipment.

 

We were at Coke in December on the Epic. There were several booths when you first head to the beach that rent everything. Snorkle gear, noodles, cameras. You name it. We have our own so I'm not sure of the prices.

 

 

 

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[bazbaz65]

Our refrigerators we've had in the past on NCL have managed to get the soda cold by the second day. It wasn't a fast process like at home, but by the end of the second day they were good and cold enough to drink right out of the can. These did not get cold the entire cruise and we did end up having to use the glasses and ice the room steward brought us throughout the day. Although it seemed to melt extremely fast as well. Hmm, maybe our room was just too warm since I kept the sliding door open a lot to hear the ocean. :D Ooops. The only issue we have ever had with a refrigerator that just simply didn't do anything was on Carnival. It was the absolute worse.

 

We noticed that about the ice as well - came to the conclusion that it's not "frozen all the way through" like ice we'd have at home. And, yes, I know the problem you mean about the fridges on Carnival - we were once told, "It's not really meant to keep anything cold." Strange thing to say about a refrigerator!

[bazbaz65]

Anyway, did you notice anyone renting snorkel equipment at Coki? We too plan to go to Coki but I don't want to have to bring snorkel equipment.

 

Yes, they do rent snorkeling equipment at Coki. Several of the buildings have them for rent. We rented some for the boys when we were there - I think it ranged from $10 to $15...

[mitsugirly]

Enjoying your review! Thanks for all the pictures and details.

 

I often find I enjoy a vacation more in the planning and the remembering--especially when multiple family members are involved!:)

 

Thanks for coming in and reading. Glad you are enjoying it.

 

Now one thing that I absolutely LOVE at O'Sheehans is their cheesecake. On previous cruises, I will stop nightly just to get a cheesecake to take back to the room for a midnight snack. THE MENU HAS CHANGED....everywhere. There was no longer a regular cheesecake. They now have a brownie cheesecake. Sigh again. (I would later find that other venues had different variations of cheesecakes too, but no regular cheesecake).

 

Loving your review, but only part way through. Devastated at this news. Most nights for dinner at the MDR I have the signature cheesecake - now gone and I too often stop at O sheehans to get cheesecake. I don't like chocolate flavoured desserts or anything with a cake texture so a chocolate brownie cheesecake sounds yuk!

 

I was devastated too, trust me. ;) Maybe someone else that is a cheesecake lover can confirm that there might be somewhere else to get a regular cheesecake on the ship? I didn't bother to check in to it too much or ask. I just fulfilled my needs with crapes this time around instead. :p

[mitsugirly]

Love all the fish pictures! I have never been on the stops you are making and must plan on them!

 

They are wonderful places to go. It has an entirely different feel from the Eastern coast, to me.

 

We noticed that about the ice as well - came to the conclusion that it's not "frozen all the way through" like ice we'd have at home. And, yes, I know the problem you mean about the fridges on Carnival - we were once told, "It's not really meant to keep anything cold." Strange thing to say about a refrigerator!

 

Exactly. It was never frozen all the way and didn't last very long.

 

If refrigerators aren't meant to keep anything cold, then what is the purpose? Just more storage? I bet they could have saved money and just put in a couple of shelves. :confused: ;)

[maja651]

We were at Coke in December on the Epic. There were several booths when you first head to the beach that rent everything. Snorkle gear, noodles, cameras. You name it. We have our own so I'm not sure of the prices.

 

 

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Forums mobile app

 

Thanks! Just what I wanted to hear! :)

[SenatorsFan]

I'm so happy to be reading another of your reviews. :) Congratulations on graduating nursing school; we all knew you could do it. :D I'm sorry this wasn't the cruise of your dreams, but I'm glad to see you were able to make the best of it. I'm really enjoying all your pictures, too. I like St. Thomas and St. Maarten too and hope to return someday.

Heather

Edited June 2, 2014 by SenatorsFan

[david_sobe]

We noticed that about the ice as well - came to the conclusion that it's not "frozen all the way through" like ice we'd have at home. And, yes, I know the problem you mean about the fridges on Carnival - we were once told, "It's not really meant to keep anything cold." Strange thing to say about a refrigerator!

They dont have mini-fridges on cruise ships. They are electric coolers. They will keep some drinks "cool." But definately NOT cold. Big savings in electric bill. That is why they dont make ice either.

I have a cooler at my desk at work. It is the same size as the ones on cruise ships. I just keep bottles of water in it and the water is cool.

Big price difference of fridge vs cooler. You can get a cooler for $70. A fridge would cost hundreds.

[theump]

I wonder if there's a time frame since we've been back for almost a week now. Did you say you have to have the insurance in order to claim? Would I just contact Southwest at a 1-800 number or do I have to contact the actual airport? I've never had this problem before and have no idea what to do.

 

 

 

You're very welcome. It's definitely an added plus to the new ships. We loved it there.

 

I think we just called the airlines. Been awhile. We got some amount for the damaged luggage but nothing for the VCR Camcorder we had in the luggage in another case. Eletronics were not covered for damage. Was the last time any time camera was not a cary on for me.

 

The Ump

John

[mitsugirly]

DAY 6=SEA DAY.

 

Today was a sea day, so I made sure I didn't set the alarm and wanted to try to sleep in a little. I woke up at 10:30am and out onto the balcony I went. It was sprinkling a little, but nothing major. Although it was cloudy, I knew if it did rain, it would more than likely not last long as they seem to never last long in the Caribbean.

 

We headed off to breakfast in a hurry, since it's my favorite meal of the day. Once again, we checked out the Flamingo Grill and they were open. I tried another one of their breakfast sandwiches, some bacon, hashbrowns and also so more yummy danishes that I had before.

 

Since it was already 11am, I knew that Sakari wouldn't have much time at the kids club before we had to pick her up at noon. I ask if she even wanted to bother going for just a little while and she did. I figured I would use this time wisely and do some of my shopping today since I hadn't bought a thing yet.

 

Here is a random picture of my ship pin that I picked up from customer service:

 

 

 

 

I snapped a few more pictures as we walked toward the gift shop.

 

 

 

 

We came across the replica ship again and I figured now was my only chance to get some good pictures of it since there wasn't anyone else there and the photographer would probably have the space taken up once again tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

I was really happy to see that NCL finally came up with a new scrapbook design. I have been buying the same old scrap book on every cruise ship for years. I'm not sure if this is only exclusive to the new ships or if they rolled out this scrapbook to all the ships. I know it was the old scrapbooks on the Jewel in December.

 

I also liked that they had new stickers and embellishments as well.

 

 

 

Oh my, what do we have here? We also have an embellishment packet JUST FOR THE GETAWAY!! Woo hoo. Score. Of course they know suckers like me will buy it.

 

 

 

 

I headed down to see about getting a tee shirt. I really have to say that I didn't care for most of the designs they had. I ended up buying this one...

 

 

 

 

They were having a "sale" that you could get 2 tee shirts for $30 or 2 NCL towels for $30 or mix and match the two. I chose to get my tee shirt above and get a really bright blue NCL beach towel. (Courtney bought the NCL beach towel and a bright pink one that says I <3 cruising...do you think she's hooked now?)

 

 

 

 

I kind of strolled to the right and kinda glanced over at that beautiful shiny diamond ring that was calling my name and gave the hubby a "look". He said "You really want it don't you?". I guess my puppy dog eyes gave it away and he called the lady over to bring it out of the case once again. It fit perfect!!! Just like it did a few days ago when I tried it on!!! That HAD to be a sign right? Price tag $3100...but wait, they were having a SALE!! This was our lucky day!! I agreed that this would be my graduation gift, my mothers day gift, my birthday gift (from a few months ago), my Christmas gift and for good faith I would throw in Halloween and the 4th of July too if that would make it better. :D He worked his magic and haggled with the sales person. She was frantically punching in numbers on the calculator and re-figuring and.... they finally agreed on a price. Not his price, but pretty darn close. She told him "Well you could pay your price and just have your wife pay the difference" Um...what did you just say? I thought that was kind of WEIRD for her to say, but whatever.

 

I walked out with my new shiny beautiful beget ring on my finger.

 

[candygirl27540]

It's beautiful! What a lovely thing after all that happened.:)

[mitsugirly]

So since I was actually still in the mood to shop :eek: (yikes) I went over to the camera area and informed the hubby I needed a new camera while we were at it too....since my Canon D10 back-up camera just took a dump in St Thomas. I won't get caught without at least 2 camera's while on vacation. That's just preposterous!

 

I knew how pleased I have been with the Olympus Tough that I purchased on the Star in 2012 and knew that I definitely wanted another Olympus and just an updated version would do.

 

I ended up with the Olympus Tough Stylus 830 in BLUE this time (my other one is the hot pink). They have made a lot of changes since my last one. It still has the same settings, but they are all different to get to. They even changed where the battery and SD card goes from the bottom to the side and the charging cord from the side to the bottom. There's a new way to close and lock them as well. The buttons are different and...well it's just different. It would take me a bit to get use to. The size is bigger too. I thought that was strange. I still to this date haven't messed around with it enough to see if they have added any extras that the 630 don't have. It's on my "to-do" list.

 

 

 

 

The photo rep was at the counter trying to give his speech to "sell" me this item. Um, I'm already bought on it...no need for your speech. I told you what I wanted when I walked up to the counter and tried to hand you my card the minute you put it down. I don't need to see it. I don't need to be told about it....I don't need.....SNAP....he takes a picture of us standing at the counter to show us the picture quality.

 

 

 

I was finally able to make my purchase and out the door we went...outside for some reason.

 

The hubby walked up to the bar and said "Give me a bloody mary...I need one now." to the bar tender. LOL When he signed the receipt, he also wrote something on the receipt that he got to keep. When I first glanced at it I thought it said Diamond F-ing drink. YIKES. But it said diamond ring drink instead. HA he's such a silly wabbit. Like you had to buy me a ring to get your drink. I would have let you have that drink either way honey. snicker.

 

 

 

 

This was his deep in thought look at the ocean. I captured it without him even knowing and then started laughing afterwards.

 

 

 

I looked at my watch and OMG, it was noon and we should be picky up Sakari right now. It didn't give him much time to enjoy that drink, so he downed it and off we went running to the kids club.

Edited June 2, 2014 by mitsugirly

[mitsugirly]

After picking up Sakari and heading back to the room with my "goodies" from my shopping spree, I decided to take Sakari back up to the stores to pick out her cruise ship gift. Every cruise we let her pick out a gift from the gift shop on board. She always picks out a stuffed animal. However, the Getaway really doesn't seem to cater to kids for some reason. There wasn't any stuffed animals and really not much for kids at all. I was really disappointed. She could pretty much chose from a huge blow up ship (which I knew would pop in a matter of days) or a small plastic ship that blows a ships horn and you can pull back on it and let it go and it moved forward. She opted for the one that wouldn't pop. Good girl. She had also found a small Christmas ornament that was heavy and shaped like the ship she wanted. I was in a GOOD mood and let her have both.

 

 

 

 

 

We were really pressed for time because there was a lot of things I wanted to get accomplished today. One of them was getting to walk that plank and ziplining on the sports deck.

 

After her purchase, we raced up to the sports deck where I geared up and headed off on the ropes course again. Since I had already done the ropes course before, I really didn't need to do it again (since we were in a hurry) and headed on the easiest path to the plank. It was extremely windy out that day, but at least they weren't closed this time and I was already a pro at walking this course.

 

Out to the plank I went. It wasn't scary at all (at least not for me). I really enjoyed it and the view.

 

 

 

 

Look, no hands!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Sakari was entertaining herself with another round of putt putt.

 

 

 

 

 

I told the hubby to video me as I did the ziplining. Now that was a little scary for the fact that they tell you hold on down really low, which feels really weird like you'll fall or something and then they tell you to run really fast and jump. Well I did and it was fun. We had previously done ziplining in the rain forest in Roatan, so of course this didn't quite compare, but I can say I have ziplined on a cruise ship now. Checking that off my bucket list I guess.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I was done, here was the hubby waiting on me with his man purse. Just kidding, he was holding my purse while I was on the ropes course, but I just had to get a picture. Life is hardly ever serious to us, so he did a proud husband pose for me to take a picture.

 

 

Edited June 2, 2014 by mitsugirly

[triptolemus]

That pink outfit is leading me to believe that is, in fact, his purse... :cool:

 

Carry on.

[mitsugirly]

OH MY GOSH I JUST WANTED TO RANT FOR A MINUTE. This stupid youtube video stuff just doesn't work. When cc added the youtube link, I have put in the link at the top, I have copied the link youtube gives me for both, to sharing to everything possible. Either it doesn't play or it plays every single video I have downloaded on my account one after another. What is the deal? What am I doing wrong??? Grrr :mad:

[david_sobe]

Wow.....what a guy....what a gift!

Nice

:)

 

Now you have something forever to remember the cruise.

[mitsugirly]

Ok, moving on now.

 

We raced down to the Atrium because we knew it was time for the Nickelodeon SpongeBob and Patrick meet & greet. I really don't feel that there was too much on this ship with the Nick characters. When we were on the Jewel, there was something almost every day. They had TONS of different Nick characters and there was something going on every day for about an hour. Not so this time. It was kinda disappointing to Sakari.

 

I arrived at the Atrium to find Kendra already there? Can you believe it? She even had seats....and even in the front row. Wow. The hubby headed off to get another drink (lol) at the bar and decided to stay there during the entire thing.

 

I kept the seats warm that Kendra had obtained and sent Kendra off to stand in the long forming line with the munchkins for their picture session with the characters.

 

 

 

 

 

Out came Spongebob and Patrick to do their little dance. (Click the picture for a video)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When it was the munchkins turn to get their picture taken...just like the Jewel, the photographer would take a picture then the staff would take your camera and take the picture with it. I think they plan this just so that the pictures don't turn out the greatest and you're forced to buy theirs. But that's just speculation of course from a money standpoint view. Naturally they don't have the background on it and you end up with a green screen with your camera of course.

 

 

 

 

I don't think Sakari realized that it was time for us to get our picture, so she had to have another one....she needed to pose of course.

 

 

 

 

She is so silly with her poses. I told her to stop doing that...it looked like she had to potty. She just laughed.

Edited June 2, 2014 by mitsugirly

[triptolemus]

OH MY GOSH I JUST WANTED TO RANT FOR A MINUTE. This stupid youtube video stuff just doesn't work. When cc added the youtube link, I have put in the link at the top, I have copied the link youtube gives me for both, to sharing to everything possible. Either it doesn't play or it plays every single video I have downloaded on my account one after another. What is the deal? What am I doing wrong??? Grrr :mad:

 

You're putting too much information in.

 

Just the part after v=

 

just this part: fHEq_pN7ST0

 

[YOUTUBE]fHEq_pN7ST0[/YOUTUBE]

Edited June 2, 2014 by triptolemus

[dna529]

So cute!! My daughter thinks she has to pose everytime she gets her picture made too. Maybe it's a six year old thing, no she's seven and still does it! I'm waiting for her to outgrow this stage because sometimes it just looks silly.:p

[mitsugirly]

Of course once I located the picture from the ship photographer (NOT in room 9180, but 9188), it was better and I opt to purchase it for my scrapbook.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After that was over as quick as it began, we walked around the corner to the bowling and decided it was time to do that. Kendra headed off to O'Sheehans for some breakfast (well, it was probably breakfast for her since I have no idea what time she even got up today).

 

When we arrived at the pin bowling, there were 2 lanes and someone was on both lanes. However, one of the couples said they were almost done and we could have their lane. They finished up within 5 minutes and it was our time. This was going to be quite the experience since I have never seen or tried pin bowling (if that's what it's actually called).

 

I ask the outgoing lane couple if we needed to check in with someone and get shoes and pay for it. He said "nope, you don't do any of that." Um ok. Maybe I had read it all wrong...we actually get to play this for free? Wow. I know every other ship you had to check in with someone, pay $5 each person, have socks on, and get their bowling shoes just like at the bowling alley. Today's our lucky day.

 

So, you bowl in your own shoes or whatever you want to do, but how do you get this thing to work? Oh, you slide your room card (which charges the $5 with each slide). Ok, so maybe not free after all. I slid the card and pushed a button. It gave me 1 person as Player 1. How do you get more names? I slid the card again and was like a madman pushing all the buttons trying to figure it out. Player 2 popped up. I tried for a 3rd slide and the pins were moving and the game was starting. Geesh, I must have done something wrong. It also didn't give us options to put our names.

 

Since there were 3 of us (including Sakari) and only 2 players up there we rotated. Sakari bowled first...player 1. Then me as player 2. Then daddy as player 1. Then Sakari as player 2 and so on. So each time we bowled, we switched back and forth between bowling player 1 and player 2. Yep, our scares were all jacked up and didn't really belong to any 1 player. This way, I don't have to claim it was the rocking of the ship that made me bowl so badly. It was all Sakari's fault. wink wink

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easy daddy, it's not a real bowling alley, it's a mini bowling alley. No need to take your frustrations out on the mini pins. hehe

 

 

 

 

Kolin walked by and seen us and told us where Kendra and the rest of everyone was at (eating) and he said he was going to go get them to come over and play some bowling. They never did show up.

 

 

Sakari ask if she could throw the ball between her legs..."Um, do you see those scores? You can do anything your little heart desires Sakari."

 

 

 

 

I didn't discover for a few rounds that there was a button you could push and the bumpers would rise from the floor. I spent each round pushing the bumpers up and down for Sakari. She felt like a big girl when her ball didn't go off of the lane.

 

Our final scores....LOL Yep, we had a good time.

 

 

 

 

Just so you know, these scores last on the screen about a good 10 seconds before they disappeared. So those of you that want to take a picture of it during your cruise, you gotta be quick.